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Samsung Electronics' latest shot in the smartphone wars—the Galaxy S4—debuted with a loud bang: a rapid-fire presentation at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday night that extolled its attributes amid skits worthy of a campy Broadway musical.

One analyst predicts that Samsung (ticker: 005930.Korea) might sell 87 million S4 phones over the next 12 months, 55% more than the precursor S3 sold in its first year.

Samsung Galaxy S4

Is the S4 worthy of the hoopla? In a brief test at the show, the updated hardware was impressive; the software, less so.

The S4's five-inch screen—up from 4.8 inches on the S3—is crisp and bright, inspiring expressions of awe from some people. At the same time, the new device is slightly thinner and lighter than the S3, and its specs are robust; it packs two gigabytes of DRAM.

But some of the novel software features are erratic or disappointing.

For example, you supposedly can scroll a Web page by merely tilting the phone, without touching the screen, but this didn't work in my tests. You also can hold your finger above the screen to preview an item. In an e-mail queue, this is brilliant, letting you scan a message's contents without leaving the list. However, in a photo gallery, this produces tiny, useless thumbnail images. And such "touchless" gestures don't work on all parts of the device; you must remember where they apply.

On the other hand, software that pauses a video when you look away from the screen worked, for the most part. It's a pleasing innovation.

In sum, the S4 is a high-powered phone with a gorgeous display and a superb camera. But its nifty operating system needs a few more edits.